Trail Mix Cookies
Published 2/11/2023 • Updated 3/17/2024
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These yummy trail mix cookies are a handful of trail mix in cookie form! You’ll absolutely love these trail mix packed cookies for on the go or a sweet treat at home.
Amazing Trail Mix Cookies
We have some pretty delicious 5-star cookie recipes here on Fit Foodie Finds — everything from our monster cookies to our oatmeal chocolate chip cookies to our chocolate chunk almond butter cookies, but this is our first trail mix cookie! We hope you love this amazing cookie recipe as much as we do 😀
What are trail mix cookies? Think of these cookies as a yummy oatmeal cookie base made with all of the add-ins you’d typically find in a trail mix. Trail mix cookies can be easily tweaked based on what you have on hand — we’ll make some ingredient swap recommendations below.
Why you’ll love ’em!
You can easily customize these trail mix cookies to your liking.
Easy to make a large batch to share!
Truly trail mix in the form of a cookie!
Featured Ingredients
For the cookie dough base
- Melted, unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar
- Maple syrup
- Egg
- Creamy and drippy almond butter
- Vanilla extract
- Kosher salt
- Quick-cooking oats
- Baking soda
- Water
For the trail mix add-ins
- Chopped semi-sweet chocolate pieces
- Chopped pistachios
- Sunflower seeds
- Raisins
- Chopped dried apricots
How to Make Trail Mix Cookies
For the full recipe, scroll down to the recipe card for a list of ingredients and instructions.
Combine Wet Ingredients
Combine melted butter and brown sugar until there are no lumps. Then, mix in maple syrup, egg, almond butter, and vanilla.
Add Dry Ingredients
Add salt, quick-cooking oats, and baking soda and mix until everything is combined. Add in the chocolate pieces, pistachios, sunflower seeds, raisins, and apricots. Finally add the water and mix again.
Let dough chill
Transfer the batter to the fridge to chill for 20-30 minutes.
Scoop dough balls
Scoop 2 tablespoons of batter into your hands and form it into a ball. Place it onto the cookie sheet and slightly press down to create a cookie shape. Press any additional toppings into the top of the cookies. Repeat the process above until you’ve fit 6 cookies on your baking sheet.
Bake Cookies
Bake the cookies at 350ºF for 11-14 minutes or until they begin to turn golden brown.
Allow Cookies to Set & Enjoy!
Remove cookies and add a bit of kosher salt to the top of each cookie. Let cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet before transferring it to a wire rack to continue cooling for at least 20 minutes to firm up.
Latest Dessert Recipes
Easy Ingredient Swaps
- Almond butter –> Any all-natural, drippy nut butter of your choice
- Dark chocolate chunks –> Milk, butterscotch or white chocolate chunks
- Chopped pistachios –> Any chopped nuts, like peanuts, walnuts, almonds or pecans
- Dried apricots –> dates, dried mango, dried apple or dried pineapple
Here’s a tip: want to completely omit a trail mix add-in? Go for it! Because it won’t change the base of this cookie, it will not change the cook time.
Top Tips for Trail Mix Cookies
Don’t be afraid to swap out the trail mix ingredients! Don’t have pistachios, replace with any chopped nut! Don’t like dark chocolate, use milk or white chocolate. Any of the trail mix ingredients can be swapped out 1:1 or completely eliminated.
If you are rolling the cookie dough in additional toppings, don’t be afraid to really press the toppings into the cookie dough balls with your hands to avoid the toppings falling off after baking.
The cookies will spread just a little bit when baking. Remember to press the cookie dough balls down slightly to avoid dome-shaped cookies.
Slightly moisten your hands before rolling the cookie dough and wipe your hands in-between balls because the cookie dough is pretty sticky.
Storage
These trail mix cookies will last in an air-tight container on your countertop for up to 5 days, however, we highly recommend storing in your freezer for the freshest cookie at any time.
To freeze: first let the cookies cool completely. Then, transfer onto a baking sheet and freeze for at least 30 minutes. Once partially frozen, transfer to an airtight container or gallon-size plastic bag. These trail mix cookies will last in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Trail Mix Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup creamy and drippy almond butter*
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, +more for topping
- 2.5 cups quick-cooking oats gluten-free if desired
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon water
- ½ cup chopped semi-sweet chocolate pieces, +more for topping, if desired
- ⅓ cup chopped pistachios, unsalted and not roasted (+more for topping, if desired)
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds, +more for topping, if desired
- ⅓ cup raisins, +more for topping, if desired
- ⅓ cup chopped dried apricots, +more for topping, if desired
Instructions
- Combine melted butter and brown sugar until there are no lumps. Then, mix with maple syrup, egg, almond butter, and vanilla.
- Add salt, quick-cooking oats, and baking soda and mix until everything is combined. Add in the chocolate pieces, pistachios, sunflower seeds, raisins, and apricots. Add water and mix again.
- Transfer the batter to the fridge to chill for 20-30 minutes.
- Then, preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop 2 tablespoons of batter into your hands and form it into a ball. Place it onto the cookie sheet and slightly press down to create a cookie shape. Press any additional toppings into the top of the cookies. Repeat the process above until you’ve fit 6 cookies on your baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies at 350ºF for 11-14 minutes or until they begin to turn golden brown.
- Remove cookies and add a bit of kosher salt to the top of each cookie. Let cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet before transferring it to a wire rack to continue cooling for at least 20 minutes to firm up.
Tips & Notes
- If the almond butter you are using has dried up a bit, won’t stir or isn’t drippy add it to a food processor and process the nut butter on high until smooth and drippy. If it still isn’t as drippy as you’d like it, add 1-2 teaspoons of coconut oil and process the nut butt again.
- If the cookie dough feels dry after adding water, add a few more teaspoons of water. You can substitute your favorite nuts or dried fruit for this recipe.
- This recipe yields 16-24 cookies when using a 2 tbsp. scoop.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Photography: photos taken in this post are by Ashley McGlaughlin from The Edible Perspective.
The cookies were fabulous. My family loved them especially the touch of salt on top😋
These are so good! I did not use apricots and instead of sunflower seeds I used pumpkin seeds. They are a little crispy outside then so chewy inside. Thank you for another great recipe!
Great idea to use pumpkin seeds!